Currently in New Zealand, democracy is increasingly under threat. The mainstream news media and professional journalists have an extremely important role to play in revitalising democratic processes. However, with democratic decline and the neoliberal capture of the dominant voices in the MSM, disempowered voters are becoming increasingly disengaged from parliamentary politics. Today, journalists covering politics tend to serve power more often than the hold it accountable. Political bloggers, especially if connected to offline activist networks, also have an important role to play in political re-engagement and democratisation.

Due to the complexity of the factors involved, this is the first of a series of posts I will be making on this topic over the next couple of months.

In order to thrive, democratic society needs independent and diverse news media where those with power are scrutinised from diverse positions. As Nicky Hager clearly explained, politicians and governments need to be questioned and held to account in a way that serves the public interest. This includes,

the public service of investigating truthfulness in politics and of seeking facts when the truth is disputed, twisted or hidden. It can also involve a different kind of truth: trying to discover and illuminate what is right and wrong. In essence, it is about investigating and challenging the activities of the powerful …

For this to happen, the news media needs to be free of influence from the state and powerful commercial interests.

Currently our government is dangerously undermining democracy, making it harder than ever for the public to have their say on important decisions. John Key presents a soothing and false face of calm and reassurance that the government is In control and is doing what is best for the country (as in his TV3 interview earlier this week).

Meanwhile his government have dismantled democratic processes in local government and abused the use of urgency at an unprecedented level, in order to ram through legislation without allowing full public and democratic scrutiny (monitoring of this systematic abuse was flagged by NRT in 2011). This is has been particularly evident in the removal of local democracy:

in Christchurch with ECAN, (which favours giving water access for corporate farmers over public rights – see NRT on this) and CERA giving the government unchallengeable control over the Christchurch rebuild (see Eddie’s post last year; and NRT last month);

and Auckland (creating unaccountable Corporate Controlled entities to manage transport, water and the Ports, with the Ports of Auckland moving to dis-empower the port workers union and undermine their job conditions, pay and security – although as Eddie posted recently, MUNZ shows the unions still have some grunt).

The media, the government, parliamentary systems and political processes all have a part to play in democratic engagement with the public (Miller, 2004*). When these combine in such a way that people feel powerless to influence change, increasing numbers of people stop voting and/or paying attention to parliamentary policies. Many continue to be political engaged in areas where they feel they can have influence, such us through consumer boycotts, or community-based action. This has been a general pattern across the English-speaking world, with New Zealand seeing a steady decline in the proportion of eligible people voting since 1950s (See Colin Hay’s much cited Why We Hate Politics, 2007: p.15) .

People stop voting when they feel their vote will have no influence: when there is too much focus on political game-playing (Comrie, 2012) and not enough focus on the detail of policies and issues, when pseudo-authority of name journalists over-ride the public interest, and when the neoliberal ethos of individualism leads them to believe that collective action will have no impact (Batin, 2008*; Hay, 2007). The decline in voting has been strongest in the age group with least power, the young. Among the young (Edwards, 2009*), the people least likely to vote are the least influence: those from low income backgrounds, and those with least formal education (Henn et al 2005 *).

The dominant ownership of news media by powerful corporations and the rise of the Internet, have resulted in a skewed and inadequate “fourth estate”. With the democratisation of news, back when newspapers became affordable and accessible to the working and low income classes, conventions developed to ensure news was written in an “objective” and impartial way. This was because a democracy required that the public were well-informed before voting (McNair, 2009: p.33). While total objectivity was never possible, it did provide some checks on the propagandisation and distortion of politics.

However, with the fragmentation of news and the increasing tendency for media ownership to be controlled by a few multinational corporates, the systems now used to ensure impartiality in news production have become counter-productive (UK OfCom Report cited in McNair, 2009: p.37). Journalists follow some basic rules of impartiality and standards, but have lost the drive to serve democracy by speaking truth to power.

Since the rise of the “neoliberal consensus”, the MSM has come to more strongly represent the interests of the most powerful. Sure they do stories on the poor and down-trodden from time-to-time, but such voices remain marginal within the whole fabric of the NZ news media-scape. A similar process is seen in Australia, as argued by Tim Batin (2008*) in his critique of the 2007 federal election:

Australia’s political journalists, another elite group, have shown a reluctance to see much that is deliberate or rational in voters’ behaviour pertaining to disengagement, and are therefore not well equipped to recognise a change in the prevailing circumstances. Indeed, the vast majority seem to accept uncritically the broad direction of neoliberal policy.

This is more to do with the overall structure and priorities of powerful media corporations. As argued in Brian McNair’s, News and Journalism in the UK: A Textbook 5thedit,news,

… is produced by an industry, shaped by the bureaucratic and economic structure of that industry, by the relations between the media and other industries and, most importantly by the relations with government and other political organisations.

– McNair, 2009

Th examination of media bias will continue in subsequent posts, but, for now, consider how little depth and critique of democratic process is in this Stuff article today on the government’s decisions to go ahead with selling 3 power companies next year:

Fresh from its court victory on asset sales, the Government is considering selling all three state-owned electricity companies next year.

Finance Minister Bill English linked the possibility of three sales to buoyant financial markets and the plan would also mean the most controversial sales were over before election year.

So, the MSM run around with cameras rolling to track down Carter for going on an authorised overseas trip, yet Key can flit around radio stations and golf courses completely undisturbed, and Parata can take a ‘holiday’, while a significant issue of accountability is running hot? If it looks like bias, and smells like bias, it’s bias.

The research took longer than expected, and was quite enlightening. But, as the issue is complex it requires several posts.

Watkin’s post is a continuing of a debate between some journalists and bloggers – contrary to your view, lately some MSM journalists have been concerned about bloggers. I think Watkin is asking the wrong question when he asked if bloggers are journalists – most of us don’t consider ourselves to be journalists, nor do we want to be.

I though the crux of Watkin’s argument was that journalists are impartial unlike bloggers. But I think the way the MSM is biased is part of the concern of many political bloggers.

I see blogs as doing well in re-engaging with some of the people who feel powerless to influence politicians or the MSM – it’s an extension of public meetings, political campaigning, water-cooler, pub, sports clubs and other conversations. Commenters get a space to to engage with others in criticising and commenting on public events, politics, media coverage of it.

And the fact that Watkin’s felt motivated to question if bloggers were journalists hints at an insecurity – and that is reinforced by comments he makes like:

The media world this past decade feels like a new territory, with diminishing resources, more pressure to win audiences, the rise of ‘free’ content on the internet, and more voices competing for attention.

My post is really responding to comments like this from Watkin:

As one of the few folk in this country who are paid full-time as a journalist but have also invested my own time and money into blogging, I’m tired of those on both sides of the debate seem to shoot first and ask questions later. I’m tired of how little bloggers know about journalism and vice versa. And I’m tired of the silly commentary that’s produced as a result….

But let’s be honest, it’s most often bloggers complaining about the ‘MSM’, usually with little insight or understanding. So given what following we do have online, why don’t we do a little less demonising and a little more thinking.

I agree with hardly any of this. We continue to have neoliberal policies because enough people keep voting for them, and politicians tailor their policies accordingly. Of course, the policies don’t work very well, but that’s beside the point. The media continue with cretinism because it sells, etc.

A majority of voters do not understand the issues very well, and at the same time are highly resistant to being told this (as everyone now knows since the popularizing of the Internet – the amount of mindless authoritarianism still amazes me). Hence, we get silly politics. Expecting it to change is an exercise in futility. People now have access to more information than at any time in history. The result has been a tsunami of derp.

We continue to have neoliberal policies because enough people keep voting for them, and politicians tailor their policies accordingly.

We went neo-liberal fully against the wishes of the people. Changing the vote in 1990 resulted in more neo-liberalism and so did voting in 1999, 2002, 2005, 08, and 11. It’s not that we’re votong for neo-liberalism but that we have no one else to vote for which is, unsurprisingly, resulting in more and more people not actually voting.

A tv broadcaster free from commercial influence . Like nz 7 is an answer to redress balance .We have to put our hand in our pockets . democracy depends on a conversation…….It is the elephant in the room metaphor…..

It’s all about money – the media only exists if people pay money to read say a newspaper.
Like the Sunday Star Times got so bad with subs dropping rapidly as crap did not sell.
Sacked the editors and replaced them with crappy ones again.
Don’t spend money so you cannot get annoyed with the crap they produce.

If you want to comment here, you need to add a comment, not just post a link. I assume the point could be that it’s an example of the media speaking truth to power. Indeed it is. I am not saying it never happens.

Note in my post I talk about “dominant voices”. This is why the issue is so complex, and I will be dealing with more of this in future posts. However, as a kind of pre-view: there comes times when public opinions shift on some issues, and or when the current government falls out of favour with a significant section of the (usually middle-class) public. The corporate media then shifts to the most likely neoliberal contender in opposition (as with Obama and Tony Blair).

Having listened to Morning Report this morning, which I guess one would call MSM, I would have to agree with the view that there is political bias.
About every fifteen minutes we were told that there was increasing pressure on Hekia Parata to quit or better still be sacked.
Who was calling for this? They turned out to be the secretary of the NZEI, the secretary of the PSA, Grant Robertson of the Labour Party and someone from the Green party.
In Mandy Rice-Davies immortal words from 1963. “Well they would say that wouldn’t they?”
The reporter kept trying to get the same statement from the President of the Post-Primary Headmasters group but he wasn’t having any of it. He thought that the Minister had some good ideas but was being obstructed by a disfunctional Education Department. This interviewee was the only one who seemed to be giving any non-biased opinions on the matter and I was left thinking the reporter was frustrated that he wouldn’t go along with the reporter’s view that the Minister had to be sacked.
So yes, there is bias in the MSM.

Bias needs to be considered in context, especially when there are more than one reports on the same issue. There were several interviews on Morning Report this morning about the Parata/Longstone issue:

The Prime Minister also had his say, so it’s good they also got opposition opinions.

So you need to take a look at the bigger picture, and how most news outlets cover the story. There are times when the media turn against a particular politician but it does not mean they shift from a predominantly neoliberal position.

However, I also get annoyed when interviewers are unable to stop interviewees from being closely interrogated or to let someone have their say, who ever they are.

RNZ is on the edges of the MSM and does make more of an attempt to interrogate issues than the evening TV News, or the newspaper front pages. It is our last remnant of public service broadcasting. We do get more diverse op ed pieces buried within the papers, which a limited amount of people really look at.

Surely State broadcasters have exactly the same issue as you cry about with privately owned media. What is to stop the Government of the day telling its “employee” what it can and can’t say. Been a feature of state owned media in other countries.

Peter Thompson (Vic uni lecturer who has made an intensive study of Public Service Broadcasting) indicates ways of setting them up so that there is no government interference It needs to be done well. The system needs to be transparent and open to public scrutiny. Commercial enterprises are rarely that transparent.

I have been listening to the RNZ interviews on education today. I haven’t found the one yet that stops someone having their say. The Nine-to-Noon interviews does include people arguing that it’s not Parata’s fault, but the team around her. Between this and Morning Report, there’s overwhelming evidence of problems in the education ministry.

Usually in such cases, the buck stops with the minister. RNZ interviewed a range of different people, with slightly differing perspectives. The PM and minister refused to front up to give their views. No one will be without their biases.

Bias is not just a case of providing 2 sides: that’s a very limited notion of impartiality and doesn’t prevent bias. RNZ is doing what Hager argues for – it is trying to pursue the truth and get as much facts as they can. Along the way, they provide different angles aand food for thought.

I presume this is meant for me.
I was not giving my own opinion on this. I am not involved in the education sector and am not qualified to comment on the subject of the Minister’s performance. What I was commenting on is what I see as a very left-wing and anti-National bias in the Morning Report staff at Radio New Zealand.
What I was doing here was quoting Patrick Walsh who is President of the Secondary Principals’ Association.
What he said was “I think the minister has some excellent ideas and has performed well in many areas”
I assume he has some reason for his views, but you would have to ask him for specifics.
Incidentally I find Evening Report a much more balanced program.

Each person interviewed should be given a fair shake. But they shouldn’t just rely on interviews, but news organisation should do do some of their own investigations to get some facts. That’s Hager’s idea about needing to relentlessly seek the facts. But these days, the profit motive means cuts in staffing, and less background research being done.

I see as a very left-wing and anti-National bias in the Morning Report staff at Radio New Zealand.

That looks to me like the very narrow definition that is used by news media to aim for impartiality. This is the standard idea these days that journalists take two sides, and let each one state their views/argument. These 2 sidea are usually based on the two main political party positions at the time, with the “centre” being set as the mid point between them. The “centre” sets up a false notion of objectivity. And in neoliberal times, the centre has moved a lot further Right than it used to be.

Real in-depth journalism would be looking for the evidence and facts behind the issues themselves, looking at it from different angles. “Left” and “right” are superficial notions, whereas the facts need to be examined in detail in order to judge the validity of the politician’s arguments. Compared with most TV news items and the dailies, this seemed to happen more on the morning report interviews, with various angles looked at.

It doesn’t seem to me that he was prevented from giving his views. It doesn’t seem any more or less biased than the other views expressed. Yes, more searching questions could have been asked – but there may have been time restraints. It seems to me you are claiming it is the only unbiased view because he supported Parata. This assumes an objective centre between the National government and opposition parties. And of course there were limited pro-Parata views because John key and Parata declined the invite to be interviewed on Morning Report.

Too often, especially in TV news we just get one side giving their spin, then the other side. Some journalists like Brent Edwards on RNZ are better at looking more in depth at the issues, weighing up each view expressed. However, he may be given more time and resources to do that than other RNZ journalists.

President of the Post-Primary Headmasters group but he wasn’t having any of it. He thought that the Minister had some good ideas but was being obstructed by a disfunctional Education Department. This interviewee was the only one who seemed to be giving any non-biased opinions on the matter

Biased opinions? Making a decision to have an opinion must involve some bias or the result is just a wishy washy anodyne remark. The PPH group President sounded as if he was being politic rather than direct.

How do you feel that most Government Ministers refuse to be interviewed on this topic (and on many others) on a news platform that aims for serious, in depth analysis?

If there is a more generous covering of anti-government opinions then perhaps that is because one part of the conversation is missing. And that I think is the real story here. It would surely be wrong to speculate on the Ministers’ and Prime Minister’s thoughts when they are not prepared to make them public. If one side is not in the game then they can hardly expect to call the shots.

alwyn: Excuse me, would you expect the Prime Minister to turn up on Radio NZ’s Morning Report and “demand” the resignation of his education minister?

Of course the first ones asking for her resignation or sacking are the ones who are in opposition, or badly affected by her incompetence and unreasonable policies (teachers, organised in unions, also principals and parents, I am sure).

While I agree that RNZ National is not what it used to be, it still is by far at the more acceptable and better end of the spectrum of “MSM”.

It is at the same time listened to by only a fraction of the whole population, so some may argue, that is not really MSM broadcasting.

I see more bias shining through the nine to noon show host, the afternoons host and the likes, than in Morning Report, which is by far the most informative morning news and current affairs program on NZ Radio. Forget television, as all they show is true crap, full of bias, personality self promotion and trivial gossip, weather, lifestyle, only selected political topics and whatever.

If anything the media are more democratic today than ever before in history. The ruling class virtual monopoly of MSM is nothing new. But this monopoly is weakening. Even as late as the Russian revolution radical and revolutionary media were illegal, and only surfaced when the masses were strong enough to commandeer the printing presses. Today radical and revolutionary media have their own social channels. Of course they are subject to blackouts because the ruling class has the ultimate power.

But even so, the real issue is the message not the medium. Only the most revolutionary media and literature critiques the basic assumptions (dominant ideology) of the MSM which in summary is the ideology of the ‘alienated bourgeois subject’. Occupy was interesting because it reflected the global crisis and the contradictions set up in Occupy produced a three way critique of the dominant ideology.

Liberal democrats critiqued neo-liberalism as unfair enriching the 1% at the expense of the 99%. Some Keynesian tweeking could fix this. This proved utopian as Krugman admitted recently. The dominant ideology was pushed left but still left intact.

Radical democrats and socialists critiqued capitalism because unequal exchange transferred wealth from producers to owners of capital. Some major mobilisations and state intervention would change that. People like Chomsky, Klein and Zizek got instant global audiences.

Marxists critiqued capitalism as in terminal crisis as rising exploitation of labour brought the destruction of society and nature. There was no alternative but revolution and the massive creative exercise of building a new society to sustain society and nature.

If Generation Zero picks up on half of this the creativity will be exponential and there is no way that the system will be able to shut it down.

I did not make any claims about the “media being the message”. I said the problem was partly to do with the nature of corporate domination of the media, plus the wider political system. I also agree that the control of the MSM is weakening, due to fragmentation and the rise of the Internet. hence the recent attacks on bloggers by some senior NZ journalists. And I am more focused on the content and the way news is reported.

I do think you may be a little optimistic about how much Generation Zero will be able to dismantle the current power structure. However, I do would love it if that happened.

The Occupy movement is a hopeful sign. However, most people get their news from the MSM – especially the 6pm TV news and the headlines in the daily papers. This forms the basis of large numbers of people’s decisions about voting, or not voting. And the MSM and right wing politicians were very quick to pronounce the death of the Occupy movement. Dismantling the power of the elites is a long hard struggle.

Karol my point about the media and the message is that the media doesn’t determine the message. The ideas (messages) which the media mediate already exist in the consciousness of particular individuals in particular social classes which in turn reflect their class interests. The dominant ideology is the default position of the bourgeois media. Whether one reads the bourgeois dailies or state media or not, one tends to take for granted the naturalness of the market, individual rights including the right of citizens to be informed in order to be rational.

However, capitalism doesn’t operate in reality according to this model, wars, crises and now climate catastrophe, stir up lots of shit. Liberal and radical media advance reformist critiques and programs and produce media to propagandise these. eg the SPD mass paper in Germany during WW1 had a circulation in millions. But as the revolution began in 1918 and the SPD refused to challenge the capitalist order, revolutionary workers and soldiers took over the bourgeois presses and began publishing demands for a socialist republic. In Russia the Bolsheviks whose papers were banned seized the presses of several dailies to print their revolutionary propaganda.

My point is that none of these political oppositions to bourgeois society seized the press in order to remove ‘bias’ or speak truth to power. They had no illusions that the media could be class neutral or objective. Rather they wanted the close down the bourgeois press and use the machines to print their condemnation of capitalism and their program for socialism. That program was to take power, not converse with it.

Similarly, today nobody who seriously critiques capitalism wants to create an objective balancing of world views in the centre. Anti-capitalism means exposing bourgeois ideology and taking over the bourgeois media. Occupy WS printed its own version of the WSJ. And social media becomes an alternative to the traditional bourgeois media which cannot be shut down so long as hackers have a power source. The Standard is a good example of an open forum which includes the RWNJs and many various positions from the centre to far left. No-one here thinks that the Labour Right let alone the bourgeois media can tell TS when to shut down.

The irony is that capitalism in the West is in terminal crisis yet its best performing corporates are in the internet and social media which for the first time are enabling a freedom of expression that hitherto had to be won by force. It is the representation of serious liberal, radical and Marxist critiques of capitalism in crisis in the social media that presents the younger generations with the intellectual and political weapons to resist their Zero status and become the organic intellectuals of the socialist revolution.

You raise important points, redrattler. I do agree that the MSM will never be that radical. However, I also doubt that it’s going to be possible in the near future for revolutionaries to seize the press and run a socialist alternative press/media that people will follow in large numbers.

For the immediate future I think it’s important to understand how media bias works, and how strongly it represents the neoliberal position. It’s important to understand how much political parties of the left and right are caught up with this system, and how much leftwing parties aim to appease the MSM. This system, that the media is part of, is having a demonstrable impact on how people think, behave, and vote. It also has some impact on people’s choices for political action.

Many are choosing political action that doesn’t involve the political establishment: boycotts, occupy-movement actions, etc.

I think there are several important elements that will contribute to an alternative, but I don’t think any one of them will be successfuul on their own. As xtasy points out, the numbers involved with grassroots activism are very small. Consumer boycotts don’t challenge the system, but tinekr around the margins.

for any flax roots activism and community action to be successful, it needs a communication network/s. Blogs and other online forums and networks can be part of that, as well as alternative video, radio and TV channels.

But there also needs to be some interaction with the mainstream. I don’t think ignoring it and working outside it will result in any significant challenge to the elites. How long was the system begun by the Russian Revolution successful?

I had first hand experience of mainstream media bias early yesterday morning, when briefly listening in to Marcus Lush on the morning program of Radio Live.

He openly favoured the proposed new convention centre that Sky City Casino want to build in return for extra pokies and game tables. He used to be opposed, but apparently now has “changed his mind”.

His comments were more or less, Auckland needs a large, international convention centre as the one proposed by Sky City, and it time to get on with it, and to put aside political issues the Greens for instance raise.

He had Barnett in on his show to also favour the convention centre.

Now in past years, when I listened to the then more common public broadcasting, it was a total NoNo to ever comment one’s own opinion to the public while being a journalist on a program. It was not the role of a journalist or moderator to add her or his own view.

Nowadays it is totally common, and you get it all the time on Radio Live, 1ZB and other commercially run stations, and Paul Holmes and others did the same on public television and radio quite frequently.

So that is what we have now, it is not at all independent, and I continue to claim that this country without a real “4th estate”, is basically run by a selected, opinionated, biased, self serving elite, in some ways like a dictatorship.

Sadly very few get it, and many young people grew up with all this, knowing none else, and taking it all as the “normal” state of affairs.

I get impatient with criticisms of the msm from the left when it is simply doing a good job of carrying out the function it is designed for – defending its owners’ class interests. Thats what it exists for and it could hardly be expected to do otherwise.

The broad left certainly has the resources to set up its own media outlets.

I suspect the reason it doesn’t is that many of the self described left don’t really want to speak truth to power with all the uncomfortable ramifications that would accompany it.

Yet I think a media firmly grounded in a democratic anti capitalist analysis would actually thrive if it was bright, bold and brave and embraced both traditional and new forms of communication.

I would love to be proved wrong and would be at the front of the queue to support something different.

I also would like to see a left wing owned and managed media. But I think you underestimate the resources, power and will of the right wing elites.

Over the last two or three decades the neocons (often named neoliberals) have been very successful in systematically taking control of any media opportunities available. Before the 1980s, the MSM wasn’t as strongly dominated by neoliberal discourse as it is today. Thatcher, Regan et al were very savvy about the importance for their political aims in having a compliant, or collaborative media. The way the MSM has developed since then has contributed to disengagement by many people from parliamentary politics – this is very bad for the left, and I have blogged about it before:

Our current government has been closing down the last remnants of public service broadcasting, and shifting what’s left to commercial corporate owned media platforms. Stratos and Triangle were providing and developing programmes like citizen A and the Union Report. Soon there will be just RNZ and Maori TV, that are not totally in the control of big media corporations. I previously blogged about that here:http://thestandard.org.nz/public-service-broadcasting-and-politics/

There is no simple or one solution. The left needs to be active on many fronts and diverse ways.

I suppose I am trying to convince people here that debates in and around the MSM don’t matter except as symptomatic of major developments of new media in global politics.

Anybody who has reflected on the events of the past 2 years, the Arab revolution, the Indignados occupations in Europe, Occupy, and upswellings of strike action from China to South Africa, would see that events have redefined the role of the media because of the active participation of the new media.

The bourgeois MSM media cannot prevent a growing anti-capitalist movement from stripping the emperor of ‘his’ clothes. It is the struggles of masses that by using new media that accounts for the growing open polarisation between classes that ultimately exposes and weakens the ability of the bourgeois to fool most of the people most of the time.

NZ is not a good example of these changes showing through clearly, it is small and its politics are dominated by a self-satisfied middle class. Yet the polarisation between left and right inside Labour is as I have argued symptomatic of this global shift. More obvious are e.g. Syria, where a popular revolution is being fought with small arms and with cameras that prove that revolution is interactive and not embedded in MSM. And Marikana where a massacre was captured on many cameras and where ANC can no longer hide the fact that it is the tool of imperialism.

The new media’s interactive role in these developments is analogous to the seizure of the presses of last century. I would argue that this time the global revolution will be interactive and truly international and will not be isolated and strangled as it was around a century ago in Russia. Of course for that to happen we have to be actively part of that global revolution.

redrattler, I think all the things you mention are part of the complicated situation we are in today. However, I do think the MSM continue to matter, as being part of the problem and a possible part of the solution.

There was a time people saw the new technology of printing presses as leading to a more inclusive democratic society.

In effect you are doing something similar with a focus on new media as the truly revolutionary communicative technology. Each technological change does open new democratic possibilities initially. However, the elites then respond by finding ways to shut down such revolution, and then to harness the potential of the medium for their own uses. We are seeing that now with the commericalisation of the Internet and e-technologies, and with issues around copyright & file sharing – Dotcom, TPP etc.

I think the left needs to understand how each technology of communication works within the contemporary state, global, social, political and economic systems. Then consider how we can best use them. It’s all part of the total whole.

The Right tries to dominate from “above”: political, state, commercial systems of control, including using the media and other systems of communication. The left is at its best when its direction is fueled by collective imitativeness from below: flax roots and community movements.

Currently the MSM prides itself on its impartiality – this myth first needs to be exposed as a limited bias between two centrist neoliberal positions. It characterises and dismisses anything outside that as “extremist”.

This is my starting position, laying down the evidence-based, ground-work for my later posts in the series. I plan to focus on flax roots activism and community action, and their relationship to the whole picture, in a later post in the series.

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Press Release – TVNZ CORIN Mr Groser, can you give us a sense of how disappointing this is that you didnt reach an agreement this week?Q + AEpisode 23TIM GROSER Interviewed by CORIN DANN CORIN Mr Groser, can you… ...

Press Release – New Zealand First Party The TPPA was a botch-up from the start, says New Zealand First Leader and Member of Parliament for Northland Rt Hon Winston Peters.TPPA a botch-up from the start The TPPA was a botch-up… ...

An 18 month old Palestinian toddler is burned to death. The parents of Ali Saad Dawabsheh and 4 yr old brother are in critical conditions with burns up fo 70 % of their bodies. Are we horrified? Well most of… ...

Greece is facing a depression on a scale arguably comparable to the US Great Depression of the late 1920s. Huge unemployment rates and a dramatic drop in family incomes of over 40 percent have Greek citizens pondering what the impacts will be… ...

Image credit: Rachel Knowles – Successful blogging workshop Big problems with Sitemeter The problems with SiteMeter are still bad this month. No data could be obtained for about 50 blogs using SiteMeter. People have also reported strange results. So if… ...

The post-Maui Ministerial Press Conference is just wrapping up, where Ministers yet again were unable to conclude a deal. The Press Conference was heavy on platitudes but light on detail of actual progress, with Ministers trailing out the oft-repeated mantras around… ...

If New York can make most of Central Park car free, then why can’t we do the same with the Domain. That was my thought when watching this video from Streetfilms. Last week, people walking and biking on the Central… ...

Grim Faces And Patriotic Words: With a few, well-chosen, words, Key could place the 2017 General Election beyond the Opposition’s grasp. The Left has been clamouring for New Zealand’s negotiators to reject the TPPA in its current form. But… ...

. . On 14 December, 2010, there was great excitement and jubilation in the Beehive when then-Corrections Minister Judith Collins announced; “This Government is committed to a world-class Corrections system in New Zealand. To achieve that, we must have access… ...

. . On 14 December, 2010, there was great excitement and jubilation in the Beehive when then-Corrections Minister Judith Collins announced; “This Government is committed to a world-class Corrections system in New Zealand. To achieve that, we must have access… ...

Press Release – New Zealand Labour Party Failure to get the TPP agreement across the line gives New Zealanders an opportunity to put more pressure on the Government not to sign away our sovereignty, Opposition leader Andrew Little says.ANDREW LITTLE… ...

Press Release – Green Party The Government should come clean about what concessions it has already made and what issues have been left on the TPP negotiating table, the Green Party said today. 1 August 2015 Time for the Govt… ...

Press Release – New Zealand Government Trade Minister Tim Groser is disappointed that the TPP negotiations were unable to reach a conclusion today, but TPP ministers collectively pledged to meet again as soon as possible to finalise the deal.Hon Tim&hellip; ...

Press Release – AFTINET The failure of TPP Ministers to reach agreement in what was supposed to be the final round of negotiations vindicates the deep concerns of community groups that the TPP is secretly trading away issues like access… ...

Press Release – Professor Jane Kelsey The final ministerial meeting on the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA) in Maui has failed. Not opting to stay another day shows the gridlock is serious and potentially intractable, according to University of Auckland law… ...

Press Release – Public Citizen’s Global Trade Watch Todays fourth final TPP ministerial without a deal means the clock has run on possible U.S. congressional votes in 2015. No deal means the TPP is thrown into the political maelstrom of… ...

Press Release – The Nation Headlines: With sanctions being lifted on Iran, McCully says there are big opportunities for New Zealand businesses in Iran and some have been giving the market a lot of thought. the opportunities are significant… ...

Press Release – Doctors for Healthy Trade Once again the pharmaceutical industry is pumping out misleading information, suggesting that theres no need to worry about price hikes to New Zealand medicines under the Trans Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA) says… ...

Global climate models aren’t given nearly enough credit for their accurate global temperature change projections. As the 2014 IPCC report showed, observed global surface temperature changes have been within the range of climate model simulations. Now a new study shows that the models… ...

by Redliners“Labor is prior to and independent of capital. Capital is only the fruit of labor, and could never have existed if labor had not first existed. Labor is the superior of capital, and deserves much the higher consideration.”… ...

According to TV3, the police are being inundated with OIA requests:Police are struggling to cope with the overwhelming number of Official Information Act (OIA) requests which flood their offices every day, and some of their time-saving measures are now prompting… ...

Back in February, German news website Netzpolitik.org published stories based on leaked documents showing that the domestic intelligence agency BfV was seeking additional funding to increase online surveillance and monitor social media. The German government's response? Investigate them for treason:Germany… ...

A busy time in the House this week with a lot of questions on the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement. James Shaw asking John Key about the benefits to the ICT sector and the risks of investor-state dispute settlement and Andrew Little… ...

Vice Magazine has an article by Jordan Pearson covering the latest TPPA leaks and concluding that the agreement is a “horrorshow” based on the leaked content. The Vice article gives a great introduction to the perils of a completed TPPA, including… ...

Vice Magazine has an article by Jordan Pearson covering the latest TPPA leaks and concluding that the agreement is a “horrorshow” based on the leaked content. The Vice article gives a great introduction to the perils of a completed TPPA, including… ...

The new electric trains have by in large been a fantastic addition to Auckland. This is not to say that there haven’t been implementation issues however they are things that I expect Auckland Transport, Transdev, CAF and Kiwirail will iron… ...

The new electric trains have by in large been a fantastic addition to Auckland. This is not to say that there haven’t been implementation issues however they are things that I expect Auckland Transport, Transdev, CAF and Kiwirail will iron… ...

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Failure to get the TPP agreement across the line gives New Zealanders an opportunity to put more pressure on the Government not to sign away our sovereignty, Opposition leader Andrew Little says.“New Zealand land, dairy and medicines are up for… ...

After failing to protect the right to stop foreign speculators buying our houses it’s clear the Government is not going to get wins on dairy in their TPP negotiations either, Labour’s Trade and Export spokesperson David Parker says. “Labour has… ...

Yesterday the Rich List showed the number of people who have over 50 million of wealth had increased by another 15 people since last year. Collectively this group are now worth 55 billion, an increase of over 7% since last… ...

Yesterday the Rich List showed the number of people who have over 50 million of wealth had increased by another 15 people since last year. Collectively this group are now worth 55 billion, an increase of over 7% since last… ...

Yesterday the Rich List showed the number of people who have over 50 million of wealth had increased by another 15 people since last year. Collectively this group are now worth 55 billion, an increase of over 7% since last… ...

Former Social Development Minister Paula Bennett has been thrown under the bus by her successor after its been suggested that Ms Bennett gave the green light to an ‘unethical’ observational study of high-risk children, Labour Children’s spokesperson Jacinda Ardern says.… ...

Thank you for the opportunity to contribute to the Draft Transition Recovery Plan on behalf of the New Zealand Labour Party. It is important that the citizens of Canterbury have a voice in the governance of the next step of… ...

Yesterday the Government released the cabinet paper on progress on the work programme of the Ministerial Group on Family Violence and Sexual Violence. Along with the Human Rights Commissioner and Women’s Refuge, I really welcome the report. I’m relieved that… ...

Yesterday the Government released the cabinet paper on progress on the work programme of the Ministerial Group on Family Violence and Sexual Violence. Along with the Human Rights Commissioner and Women’s Refuge, I really welcome the report. I’m relieved that… ...

In 2010, National rammed the Electoral (Disqualification of Sentenced Prisoners) Amendment Bill through Parliament. Paul Quinn’s Member’s Bill existed because Paul Quinn thought anyone who’d been imprisoned was a serious offender, and serious offenders had ‘forfeited’ their right to vote.… ...

The Government has been given a serve by New Zealand-based international trucking and logistics firm Mainfreight which says it lacks a national transport strategy, and has treated rail badly, Labour's Transport spokesperson Phil Twyford says. The company has told shareholders it… ...

The New Zealand Council of Trade Unions is embarking on a campaign to fight the changes that weaken the Health and Safety Reform bill. As part of the campaign the CTU has organised vigils with the display of 291 crosses… ...

Farmers must be given every assurance that all potential risks have been considered before Silver Fern Farms opens its door to foreign equity, Labour’s Primary Industries spokesperson Damien O’Connor says. “The ongoing saga involving the meat sector and amalgamation has… ...

Labour has moved to have the second flag referendum canned if the first attracts fewer than half the eligible number of voters, Opposition Leader Andrew Little says. “John Key has already wasted more than $8 million on his vanity project… ...

New figures obtained by Labour show the ACC Minister’s botched motor vehicle levy system has resulted in 90,000 vehicles having to be reclassified so far – at a cost of $6 million, Labour’s ACC spokesperson Sue Moroney says. “Nikki Kaye’s… ...

Chronic under-funding by National has seen the health budget slashed by $1.7 billion in just five years, Labour’s Health spokesperson Annette King says. A report by Infometrics, commissioned by Labour, shows health funding has been cut in four of the… ...

The news that two Serco inmates have been arrested for helping to run a methamphetamine ring from prison should be the final straw and see their contract cancelled, says Labour’s Corrections Spokesperson Kelvin Davis. “National has stood by Serco despite… ...

A proposal being considered by the Government would see some people having to pay more for health care and district health boards forced to fight amongst themselves to fund regional health services, Labour’s Health spokesperson Annette King says “Information leaked… ...

The trouble with the Charter school model is that it is a publicly funded experiment on children. The National Government has consistently put its desire to open charter schools ahead of the safety of the children in them, ignoring repeated… ...

News that an unnamed bank in Ashburton has put a receiver on notice over financially vulnerable farmers will send a chill through rural New Zealand, says Labour’s Finance Spokesperson Grant Robertson. “The Government needs to work with New Zealand’s banks… ...

John Key yesterday admitted what National dishonestly refused to confirm in Parliament last week – he is trading away New Zealand’s right to control who buys our homes and land, says Opposition leader Andrew Little. “The Prime Minister must now… ...

Plans by the Government to take a scalpel to democratically elected health boards are deceitful and underhand, coming just months after an election during which they were never signalled, Labour’s Health spokesperson Annette King says “Leaked documents reveals a radical… ...

Corrections Spin Doctors sending their place holder lines to journalists instead of responding to serious allegations shows the scale of chaos at the department over the Serco scandal, says Labour’s Corrections Spokesperson Kelvin Davis. “As more and more serious allegations… ...

A High Court ruling that a law banning prisoners from voting is inconsistent with a properly functioning democracy should be a wake-up call for the Government, Labour’s Justice spokesperson Jacinda Ardern says. In an unprecedented ruling Justice Paul Heath has… ...

Congratulations are due to the Problem Gambling Foundation (PGFNZ) who have won their legal case around how the Ministry of Health decided to award their contracts for problem gambling services to another service provider. Congratulations are due not just for&hellip; ...

This week, the Environmental Protection Authority Amendment Bill passed its first reading in Parliament. The Bill puts protection of the environment into the core purpose of the Environmental Protection Authority. This month, Dr Allan Freeth, the former Chief Executive of… ...

The killing of a security guard on his first night on the job is exactly the kind of incident that National’s watered-down health and safety bill won’t prevent, says Te Atatu MP Phil Twyford. The coronial inquest into 22-year-old Charanpreet… ...

Increasing numbers of single parents are being penalised under a regime that is overly focussed on sanctions rather than getting more people into work, Labour’s Social Development spokesperson Carmel Sepuloni says. “Figures, obtained through Parliamentary questions show 3000 more sanctions,… ...

Hekia Parata’s decision to keep troubled Whangaruru Charter school open despite being presented with a catalogue of failure defies belief, goes against official advice and breaks a Government promise to close these schools if they were failing, says Labour’s Education… ...

Yesterday I attended the launch of a new initiative developed by and for Asian, Middle eastern and African youth to support young people to name and get support if there is domestic violence at home. The impact on children of… ...

The Government’s handling of the Problem Gambling Foundation’s axing in a cost-cutting exercise has been ham-fisted and harmful to some of the most vulnerable people in society, Associate Health Labour spokesperson David Clark says.“Today’s court ruling overturning the axing of… ...

The Labour Party will not support the Trans Pacific Partnership Agreement unless key protections for New Zealanders are met, Opposition leader Andrew Little says.“Labour supports free trade. However, we will not support a TPP agreement that undermines New Zealand’s sovereignty. ...

Resident doctors have advised that a severe staffing shortage at North Shore Hospital is putting patients’ lives at risk, Labour’s Health spokesperson Annette King says. “They say a mismatch between staffing levels and patient workloads at North Shore has… ...

Six months’ paid parental leave is back on the agenda and a step closer to reality for Kiwi parents after Labour’s new Member’s Bill was pulled from today’s ballot, the Bill’s sponsor and Labour MP Sue Moroney says. “My Bill… ...

New requirements for sole parents to undertake a reapplication process after a year is likely to mean a large number will face benefit cancellations, but not because they have obtained work, Labour’s Social Development spokesperson Carmel Sepuloni says. “Increasing numbers… ...

Last week the government’s major initiative to combat child poverty (a paltry $25 increase) was exposed for what it is, a lie. The Government, through the Budget this year, claims to be engaging in the child poverty debate, but instead,… ...

The Reserve Bank's decision to cut the Official Cash Rate to 3 per cent shows there is no encore for the so-called 'rock star' economy, says Labour's Finance Spokesperson Grant Robertson. "Today's interest rate cut comes off the back… ...

In my short 33 years on this planet we’ve seen phenomenal technological, economic and social change, and it’s realistic to expect the next 33 will see even more, even faster change. You can see it in the non-descript warehouse near… ...

A Bill that puts the environment squarely into legislation governing the Environmental Protection Authority passed its first reading today, says Meka Whaitiri. “I introduced this member’s bill as the current law doesn’t actually make protecting the environment a goal of… ...

KiwiSaver statistics released today expose John Key's claim that the cutting of the kickstart payment "will not make a blind bit of difference to the number of people who join KiwiSaver” to be duplicitous, says Labour Finance Spokesperson Grant Robertson. “Official… ...

All New Zealanders should be treated fairly at work. Currently, the law allows non-employment relationships to be used to get around the minimum wage. This is unfair, says Labour MP David Parker. “The Minimum Wage (Contractor Remuneration) Amendment Bill, a… ...

The Government’s rubber-stamping of every one of the nearly 400 applications from overseas investors to buy New Zealand farm land over the last three years proves tougher laws are needed, Labour MP Phil Goff says. “In the last term of… ...

John Key must ditch the flag referendum before any more taxpayer money is wasted, Opposition Leader Andrew Little says. “Millions of dollars could be saved if the Prime Minister called a halt to this hugely expensive, and highly unpopular, vanity… ...

Government members have prevented Parliament’s Law and Order select committee from getting answers out of a senior Serco director about the fight clubs being run at Mt Eden prisons, says Labour’s Corrections Spokesperson Kelvin Davis. “At today’s Law and Order… ...

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The stalling of yesterday’s TPPA negotiations in Maui provide light relief for the citizens of New Zealand, but we cannot be complacent in thinking that our Government will not continue on signing our country up to a deal that may… ...

Everyone who has opposed the introduction of Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) into their districts needs to be alarmed at the way central Government is moving to over-ride local council regulations about this matter, says Kelvin Davis, Labour ...

‘The “final” ministerial meeting on the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA) in Maui has failed. Not opting to stay another day shows the gridlock is serious and potentially intractable’, according to University of Auckland law professor ...

Retailers will be pleased by news reports that Revenue Minister Todd McClay is taking a paper to Cabinet this month that will allow New Zealand retailers to compete on a fair basis with foreign websites by substantially reducing the threshold… ...

Lisa Owen: Now, changing tack now. Nancy Gibbs is the first woman to lead the iconic Time magazine. What's more, she's leading it into the digital age with her appointment in 2013, heralding a shake-up in the magazine's online offerings.… ...

Headlines: With sanctions being lifted on Iran, McCully says there are big opportunities for New Zealand businesses in Iran and some have been giving the market a lot of thought. “…the opportunities are significant in the short-term and even bigger… ...

Foreign Minister Murray McCully talks to Tova O’Brien in New York about what opportunities the Iran deal creates for New Zealand, whether the families of the MH17 victims will ever get justice, and he has stern words for the world’s… ...

The Pharmacy Guild of New Zealand (the Guild) is keen to learn more about how the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA) will impact New Zealand’s health sector if it is accepted by the Government. ...

Secrecy of TPPA documents heads to court A legal challenge to the secrecy of the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA) negotiations will be launched in the High Court next week. An urgent application for judicial review will challenge Trade Minister ...

Navy Ships Arriving Home After Long Deployments The frigate HMNZS TE KAHA and tanker HMNZS ENDEAVOUR will arrive at the Devonport Naval Base in Auckland at 10am this Sunday 2 August, after long overseas deployments. Over 1100 family and friends… ...

Social Service Providers Aotearoa (SSPA) is concerned about the potential for a proposed study on new born children to go awry unless the paramountcy principle of commitment to the Care and Protection of Children is upheld. This commitment means that… ...

Responding to the report that Auckland’s Councillors and Mayor Len Brown look set for a 2.3 per cent pay increase, just days after voting to increase the average rates burden by 9.9 per cent, Ratepayers’ Alliance spokesperson, Carmel Claridge, says: ...

Responding to the report that Auckland’s Councillors and Mayor Len Brown look set for a 2.3 per cent pay increase, just days after voting to increase the average rates burden by 9.9 per cent, Ratepayers’ Alliance spokesperson, Carmel Claridge, says: ...

Responding to the report that Auckland’s Councillors and Mayor Len Brown look set for a 2.3 per cent pay increase, just days after voting to increase the average rates burden by 9.9 per cent, Ratepayers’ Alliance spokesperson, Carmel Claridge, says: ...

After 3 years of legal battle the government has now agreed to make full offers to commercial and vacant land owners whose properties were illegally red-zoned. However it decided to single out self-insured homeowners and offers nothing for their homes. ...

Strong response to Draft Transition Recovery Plan The Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Authority (CERA) has started analysing more than 2500 written comments received on the transition of recovery arrangements in greater Christchurch. The Recovery Plan ...

Heard you were able to get back to your dad’s turangawaewae last week. Mean … hope you had a good catch up with the whanau. I also hear you’re getting ready to endorse the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA), and I’m… ...

The family of Lecretia Seales has decided not to appeal the High Court decision in the case of Seales v. Attorney General released to the public by Justice Collins last month on June 5th. Ms Seales passed away several hours… ...

Auckland’s only centre-right Mayoral candidate Stephen Berry says in light of massive rates increases it is inappropriate for the Mayor or any Councillors to be accepting a pay increase. “I propose that until such time as the Council passes a… ...

Predictive risk model in the prevention of child abuse – UNICEF NZ urges caution Research and testing of a predictive risk model to assist in identifying and responding to children at risk of child abuse is important work but must… ...

"Dow AgroSciences, Fonterra and Methanex are three named sponsors of Taranaki Regional Council's Environmental Awards. Their sponsorships makes a total mockery of these awards. This is akin to a weapons manufacturer sponsoring a peace scholarship" ...

Wikileaks has just posted a ‘guidance’ document for TPPA ministers on SOE-related issues ( https://wikileaks.org/tpp-soe-minister/ ). Although dated December 2013, Professor Jane Kelsey, a law professor from the University of Auckland who has monitored ...

With the reference to the latest “Trafficking in Persons” or TIP Report Released this Tuesday by the US Government, ECPAT Child ALERT Trust raises concerns that even though New Zealand may be in the Tier 1 category the report clearly… ...

An Independent Police Conduct Authority report released today has found that Police unlawfully detained two women and three young children following an armed response which developed from the attempted arrest of a male in Mangere on the evening of ...

The National Collective of Independent Women’s Refuges welcomes the announcement of the government family and sexual violence work programme. “I am excited to see this commitment to action from the government and look forward to working alongside ...

At the conclusion of a public request for proposals and selection process, the Office of the Clerk of the House of Representatives has appointed Oratia Media to publish the fourth edition of the authoritative guide to the conduct of our… ...

At the conclusion of a public request for proposals and selection process, the Office of the Clerk of the House of Representatives has appointed Oratia Media to publish the fourth edition of the authoritative guide to the conduct of our… ...

‘The Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA) has given up another secret – unprecedented new restrictions on state-owned enterprises (SOEs)’, says University of Auckland law professor Jane Kelsey who has monitored the SOE negotiations intensively. ...

‘The Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA) has given up another secret – unprecedented new restrictions on state-owned enterprises (SOEs)’, says University of Auckland law professor Jane Kelsey who has monitored the SOE negotiations intensively. ...

Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post’s poll. Source: Professor Jane Kelsey. Professor Jane Kelsey. ‘The “final” ministerial meeting on the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA) in Maui… ...

Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post’s poll. Statement of Lori Wallach, Director, Public Citizen’s Global Trade Watch – Yet Another ‘Final’ TPP Ministerial and Again No Deal; Not… ...

Michael Woodhouse. Image courtesy of TheStandard.org.nz. Analysis by Keith Rankin. This article was also published on TheDailyBlog.co.nz. On Q+A (TVNZ) on 12 July, Michael Woodhouse, Minister for Workplace Relations and Safety discussed ‘Zero-Hour’ labour contracts as a subset… ...

Report by NewsroomPlus.com MGSM Release: Sydney and Melbourne property prices have grown at more than 15 per cent per annum over the last three years, outperforming any other Australian markets and creating a bubble, says Nobel Prize winning economist Professor… ...

Report by NewsroomPlus.comNew Zealanders love their holidays and according to recent data released by Statistics NZ, last month alone 198,800 kiwis took a vacation. For the year ending June 2015, over 2.3 million New Zealanders left New Zealand to… ...

Analysis by Dr Bryce Edwards. Dr Bryce Edwards. Should we celebrate the super rich in New Zealand or see their growing wealth as a cause of inequality and division? The publication of the NBR’s latest annual Rich List… ...

This edition of NewsRoom_Digest features 7 resourceful links of the day and the politics pulse from Friday 31st July.NEWSROOM_MONITORTop stories in the current news cycle include the progress of the controversial controversial Health and Safety Reform Bill… ...

Source: Professor Jane Kelsey. Professor Jane Kelsey. A legal challenge to the secrecy of the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA) negotiations will be launched in the High Court next week.An urgent application for judicial review will challenge Trade… ...

Source:Smokefreerockquest – Nelson Media Agency – Press Release/Statement: Headline: SMOKEFREEROCKQUEST 2015 NATIONAL FINALISTS ANNOUNCEDThe top nine Smokefreerockquest national finalists were announced today, the crème of the 700 bands and solo/duos who entered the nationwide youth music contest this year.Contenders… ...

Report by NewsroomPlus.comContributed by Amanda CarringtonWellington celebrated a milestone last weekend, reaching 150 years as New Zealand’s capital. Thousands of Wellingtonians were enticed to explore the many churches, universities, museums and government buildings the city has to offer. But… ...

Report by NewsroomPlus.comThe speech text below was used by Minister of Foreign Affairs Murray McCully used to open the Open Debate: Peace and security challenges facing Small Island Developing States, at the UN Security Council, July 30, 2015 (New York… ...

This edition of NewsRoom_Digest features 6 resourceful links of the day and the politics pulse from Thursday 30th July.NEWSROOM_MONITORTop stories in the current news cycle include information showing that Social Development Minister Anne Tolley has confined anew… ...

Analysis by Keith Rankin. This article was also published on Scoop.co.nz.On Morning Report on Friday (24 July), I heard the following exchange between Guyon Espiner and Finance Minister, Bill English.Guyon Espiner: “So what’s the good bit about allowing… ...

Source: Scope Media – PERRIAM. Merino sheep being mustered on Bendigo Station overlooking, Lake Dunstan. Luxury merino fashion brand PERRIAM has been selected for a special showcase on wool in fashion at the prestigious New Zealand Fashion Week… ...

…he can do anything he wants….his suit is 100% NASA-engineered teflon & stuff… …so it’s been such an amazing run that el presidente recently decided on a make over and costuming – because he can…because he can do what… ...

Political roundup by Dr Bryce Edwards Dr Bryce Edwards. $100,000 a year to imprison a person is a lot of money. That’s the striking figure at the centre of the current prison scandal and debate, in a country… ...

This edition of NewsRoom_Digest features 5 resourceful links of the day and the politics pulse from Wednesday 29th July.NEWSROOM_MONITORTop stories in the current news cycle include the possibility of the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade talks coming… ...

Investigation by Carolyn Skelton.Negative side effects of isotretinoinIn my research of the acne last resort drug, isotretinoin, I came across a couple of issues related to the impact of Big Pharma, Pharmac, and potential impacts of the TPP.… ...

This edition of NewsRoom_Digest features 5 resourceful links of the day and the politics pulse from Tuesday 28th July.NEWSROOM_MONITOR Top stories in the current news cycle include more leaked documents that show the funding of District Health Boards… ...

Analysis by Keith Rankin – This article was also published on Scoop.co.nz.In response to my Money, Flow and Debt (Daily Blog and Evening Report, 25 July 2015) one reader responded to my comments about money hoarding and compensatory debt&hellip; ...

Source: Hot Topic – By Gareth Renowden – Analysis published with permission of Hot-Topic.co.nz Headline: A tale of two hemispheres At the end of June, Professor Jim Renwick of Victoria University gave his inaugural lecture. As you might expect of… ...

This edition of NewsRoom_Digest contains 9 links for the day from Monday 27th July.Top stories in the current news cycle include concerns over a leaked document that reportedly shows the Government plans an overhaul to the governance of… ...

This edition of NewsRoom_Digest contains 9 links for the day from Monday 27th July.Top stories in the current news cycle include concerns over a leaked document that reportedly shows the Government plans an overhaul to the governance of… ...

Source: Asia Pacific Lawyers Network.“Evidence is mounting of increasing numbers of internet romantics and international travellers risking their lives after being deceived, coerced and ultimately exploited by sophisticated international drug cartels,” New Zealand death penalty defence… ...

…exactly when am i a journalist? …the hager case has raised some big issues…is it time to professionalise journalism? …personally i think the hand-writing a tag or a name sticker that says “reporter” is the standard we should… ...

Eyes of Fire (fifth edition) launched Friday July 10, 2015. Opinion piece by Professor David Robie of AUT’s School of Communication Studies – David travelled on board the Rainbow Warrior for 10 weeks before the bombing and wrote the book&hellip; ...

Analysis by Keith Rankin – This article was also published on TheDailyBlog.co.nz.To sort out our intransigent economic problems, ordinary people need to understand how things actually work today and how things do not work. The peasants need to challenge… ...

Report by Alistar Kata – Pacific Media Centre/Pacific Media Watch.AUCKLAND (Pacific Media Watch): Most audiences are used to seeing Wairere Tame Iti as the Māori activist, who most notably shot the Australian flag at a 2005 Waitangi Tribunal… ...

This edition of NewsRoom_Digest contains 8 media release snippets and 4 links for the day of Friday 24th July.Top stories in the current news cycle include more concerns about effects of the Government’s tougher welfare policy and the… ...

Report by NewsroomPlus.com – Contributed by Olexander BarnesWellington is the city where the vampire film “What we do in the Shadows” takes place, but there are more dangers on our streets than just vampires. Living Streets Aotearoa and the Urban Design… ...

Report by NewsroomPlus.comIt may be a fact of the news cycle that Thursday night’s release of research focused on asthma health literacy for Māori children in New Zealand – He Māramatanga Huangō – wasn’t destined to make the 6pm bulletin.… ...

Report by NewsroomPlus.comContributed by Amanda CarringtonNew research from a Victoria University professor shows a longer parole period will decrease the risk of prisoners reoffending. Psychology professor Devon Polaschek’s work Surviving the first year explores how prisoners who are… ...

Bryce Edwards’ Political Roundup – The Housing apartheid problem Dr Bryce Edwards. There’s a social divide opening up in New Zealand cities, especially Auckland, over home ownership. But is the division about race or wealth? And what can… ...

Containing the impacts in NZ: Acne and isotretinoin IIIInvestigation by Carolyn Skelton.In my previous pieces I addressed problems with acne and a last resort anti-acne drug (isotretinoin); a drug which has tended towards being overused and under-regulated. Many… ...

Source: Royal New Zealand Ballet A magical world premiere from the RNZB – The Vodafone Season of A Midsummer Night’s DreamIn an unprecedented artistic coup the Royal New Zealand Ballet has commissioned one of the world’s most sought after choreographers… ...

This edition of NewsRoom_Digest contains 8 media release snippets and 5 links for the day of Thursday 23rd July.Top stories in the current news cycle include a report from ACClaim Otago, a support group for injured people that… ...

Report by NewsroomPlus.comContributed by Olexander BarnesDebates on issues like euthanasia deserve the widest possible audience. It was fitting then that the lecture hall in the Otago campus next to Wellington hospital was packed full of people, all eager to… ...

Source: Civil Aviation Authority of New Zealand New Civil Aviation Rules for unmanned aircraft coming into force next week will improve aviation safety for operators, other airspace users and people and property. Civil Aviation Rule Part 102… ...

Source:Reserve Bank of New Zealand Reserve Bank Governor Graeme Wheeler announced this morning that the Reserve Bank has reduced the Official Cash Rate (OCR) by 25 basis points to 3.0 percent.Graeme Wheeler said the global economic growth remains moderate,… ...

Peter Godfrey and Selwyn Manning. Selwyn Manning and Australian radio station FiveAA’s Peter Godfrey deliver their weekly bulletin, Across The Ditch. This week New Zealand’s Corrections Minister Sam Lotu-Inga under pressure to resign after scandalous and tragic… ...

This edition of NewsRoom_Digest contains 8 media release snippets and 4 links for the day of Tuesday 22nd July.Top stories in the current news cycle include Parliament unanimously passing legislation to fix a legal loophole that would have… ...

From The Virtual Desk of Ant Timpson. It all started with a synopsis and a poster submitted to a film competition. From 500 submissions, one winner emerged victorious. The filmmaker’s name was Jason Lei Howden and his winning idea was… ...